Big Sky are a brewery to be reckoned with. This is my favorite of the advent calendar (so far).
Quite fizzy and with good head, it meets my expectations as a Belgian Strong Ale, with a flavorful yeast and malt and alcohol.
Loved the dark color.

Pours to give a clear body with a tawny-amber colouring and a very small head that rapidly decays to nothing. The scent comes up strong on dark fruits, sweetness and a few spices though I feel it should have some more power to it. There is also a ferrous aroma similar to that of Guinness. The taste is quite sweet, with many fresh berry notes and slight booziness. The finish is incredibly smooth and warming, just wonderful. Overall it didn't seem to give much at first, but definitely delivered in the end.

750 ml bottle into tulip glass, 2012 vintage bottling. Pours lightly hazy/cloudy deep reddish brown color with a 1-2 finger dense light khaki head with good retention, that reduces to a small cap that lingers. Nice spotty soapy lacing clings around the glass, with a fair amount of streaming carbonation. Aromas of plum, pear, apple, fig, raisin, caramel, toast, brown sugar, light pepper, herbal, and yeast earthiness. Nice and pleasant aromas with good complexity and solid balance of fruity/earthy yeast and dark/bready malt notes; with solid strength. A bit too fruity in the aromas and lacking much malt depth and complexity. Taste of big raisin, plum, fig, date, apricot, caramel, toffee, toast, brown sugar, brown bread, light chocolate, light nuttiness, pepper, herbal, and yeast/toasted earthiness. Light earthy yeast spicy finish; with lingering notes of raisin, plum, fig, date, apricot, caramel, toast, toffee, brown sugar, brown bread, light chocolate/nuttiness, herbal, and yeast/toasted earthiness on the finish for a while. Damn nice complexity and robustness of fruity/earthy yeast and dark/bready malt flavors; with a great malt/yeast balance and zero cloying sweetness after the finish. Medium carbonation and medium-full bodied; with a very smooth, creamy, and lightly slick mouthfeel that is nice. Alcohol is well hidden with only a small warming present after the finish. Overall this is a damn nice Belgian strong dark ale. All around great balance, robustness, and complexity of fruity/earthy yeast and dark/bready malt flavors; and very smooth to sip on for the big ABV. The aromas were a bit unbalanced, but the flavors were spot on with great complexity. A very enjoyable offering.

Wonderful! This brew is a great representative of the style and the season. This tastes like Christmas Cake in a glass, bread, dark fruit, brown sugar and caramel with a boozy warmth at the end. I'm a big fan of Big Sky and I'm very glad this was part of my Craft Beer Advent calendar this year.

355ml bottle, 10.1% ABV, day 12 of the 2014 Craft Beer Advent calendar - now we're getting down to brass tacks for the Christmas beer goodness.

This beer pours a clear, medium bronzed amber hue, with one skinny finger of weakly foamy, bubbly, and generally fizzy beige head, which leaves but a few remote and isolated dots of lace around the glass as it quickly blows off.

The bubbles are pretty well understated, barely showing some frothy leg for our amusement, the body a heady medium-full weight, generally smooth and mildly creamy, the alcohol the only transgressor here, and it apparently has other things on its mind. It finishes on the sweet side, sure, but the various contributors are aligned in that certain old-world way, one which avoids any thoughts of scraping one's tongue.

A rather enjoyable ode to the Belgian BSDA greats - complex, fruity, and with a big whack of mostly undetectable booze - yup, that's what does it for me during Yuletide. Good on this brewery for reminding me why I enjoyed myself so much in their town a few years ago, even if it was summer at the time.